


Best dog ever

by Elodie12



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, basically just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27423667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elodie12/pseuds/Elodie12
Summary: Gert was in the park with her dog, Old Lace, walking in their usual path when the animal found a wallet that was going to change Gert's life forever.
Relationships: Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Best dog ever

Gert was in the park with her dog, Old Lace. She was walking the young female Australian Shepherd in their usual path. Or more, Old Lace was walking her. She was only two-year-old and full of energy to Gert’s amusement and tiredness sometimes.

Gert adopted the dog when she was a puppy, saving her from living in the street. She remembered the day she found her, trying to steal from the garbage of Gert’s building. She was skinny and sick, Gert immediately brought her to the vet and decided she was going to stay with her for as long as she was OK with it.

They get along almost instantly, like they were meant to find each other.

Gert had quickly adapt her routine to match to the needs of her new roommate. She was waking up one hour earlier to walk the dog to the park next to her apartment. Before heading back home, to work on her computer while Old Lace would stay glued to her all day.

Gert was working in an association that was helping saving the planet. Her job was to contact some of the biggest company in the country to tell them their environmental impact was horrible and they should change it before the world get to crap thanks to them. It was hard and most of the time she was talking to a wall, but once in a while, she was helping do a little change that could save their planet. She was working from home most of the week, except for when they had to do some presentations or meetings.

Gert was happy like this, doing the job of her dreams, living with the best dog ever. She had the best sister of all the times too. Molly was adopted by Gert’s parents when she was five and since that day, Gert and she became real sisters. Even now that the little girl was studying to become a police agent and they couldn’t see each other as often. Gert was freaking out for the safety of her baby sister, but she was also happy that she could fulfill her dream career the same way Gert had done.

Gert also had the weirder, but most loving parents of the world. Stacey and Dale were working in the medical research and living close to her. Showing up at least one time per week to her apartment to bring her food or just see her. Since they were missing their baby girl since the day she left the house. And even more now that Molly was gone too.

Gert wasn’t feeling alone. Even if she was technically alone. She hadn’t had anyone romantically in her life since she finished her studies. She had broken up with her boyfriend that was living next to her in Massachusetts to come back in California, close to her family.

And Gert was fine with it. She was happy alone, never really having time to feel lonely between her friends and her family.

Because when it wasn’t her parents or her sister that were showing up to her apartment, it was her best friend Karolina. Gert and she were totally different, physically and mentally. Karolina was a bright bundle of pure energy, always wanting to do something or go somewhere while Gert was happy staying home and do nothing. However, in some ways they were completing each other, and they had the best friendship ever, always here for each other. Whenever it was when Karolina was struggling to do her coming out or when Gert was struggling with her anxiety, they always had each other’s back.

Yes, Gert’s life was great, but apparently not great enough in the taste of Old Lace.

That day, when she was walking the dog in the park, Gert couldn’t know that her dog was about to turn her life upside down.

Gert was now sitting in a bench, reading a book while keeping an eye on Old Lace. The dog was running freely in the hills in front of her, rolling in the grass and mud. She was so going to take a bath once they got home.

Gert closed her book when she saw the animal coming back to see her, trotting happily.

“Hey girl!” She welcomed her, caressing her head.

She noticed Old Lace was carrying something inside her mouth.

“What did you find?” She asked aloud, grabbing the object.

It was a wallet. A leather expensive black wallet that Old Lace had soak in dog’s saliva.

“Gross …” Gert giggled, using a tissue she was carrying in her bag to wipe it.

She opened the wallet to look inside and see if there was something that could help her finding his owner. There was a gold credit card in the name of “Chase Stein”. There also was a fidelity card to the gym club. And Gert recognized the name as the one she was passing in front of every day when she was leaving her apartment to walk Old Lace. So, the guy was living in the neighborhood, but Gert hadn’t heard this name before.

She kept digging, seeing he was carrying fifty dollars in cash, when she saw a driver license. Gert examined it. Damn, he was cute. How was it even possible? ID pictures were always horrible, but this guy managed to look like a top model on it. It must have been correct with Photoshop, there was no way a boy looking like this was living in the same quarter as Gert. He had soft brown hair perfectly styled on his head, hazel eyes, and a bright smile that could eclipse the sun with his dimples.

Was he even real? Guys like this were only existing in movies and TV shows. And yeah it was California, but still, Gert wasn’t living in a quarter full of Hollywood’s stars.

She looked at his address to see if he lost himself in this park or if his wallet was robbed, but no. He was living in the building next to Gert’s one.

Damn, she needed to check her glasses. How could she never see this cutie before?

Gert contemplated the wallet in her hand and thought about what to do next. She could stop at the gym club and leave it at the reception so he could get it back the next time he was getting there. Or she could not chicken out on this one and go to his actual address to give it back to him directly.

Gert sighed. What was she supposed to do?

She looked at Old Lace who was sitting in front of her, her tongue out, barking happily at her when she saw her mistress was paying attention to her. Gert smiled and rubbed the dog behind her ear.

She should go to his apartment, right? This guy could need his driver license today and if she gave it to the gym club who knows when he’ll go there? Maybe he wasn’t even going to it anymore. Plus, there was no guarantees the gym club would give him his wallet back.

Yeah, Gert should go give it back in person, it was best.

_And you could see hot face at the same time …_

Hush! There was no need to fantasize about this. This wasn’t some romantic teenage shit movie; it was the reality. A guy hot like him was probably already taken and if he wasn’t there was no way he would take interest in a weird girl like Gert. And maybe he was an asshole. It wasn’t because he was hot that he was interesting too. Guys with both qualities were rare. Plus, it was just a picture, he could be not looking like this in reality. And it was ridiculous to fantasize about a guy she hadn’t even seen yet. She wasn’t a teenager anymore.

Gert was just doing her citizen duty by giving this boy his wallet back.

_Sure …_

Gert put the leash back on Old Lace and they walked back to Gert’s apartment. When she was in front of Chase’s building she stopped. She looked at the intercom and when she saw the name “Stein” she hesitated to press the button next to it. She was feeling really uncomfortable about this, she didn’t know the guy after all.

She bit her lips her finger a few inches away from the button when Old Lace barked, making her jumped and pressed the intercom, despite her. The buzzer rang and Gert was silently praying hot dude wasn’t home.

“Yeah?” Said a man voice in the box.

Gert cursed silently her bad luck.

“Hello?” Repeated the voice.

She cleared her throat and gathered all the courage she had in her to speak.

“Hum … Hi. Uh, I fou-found your wallet at the park … I just came here to bring it back …” She stammered.

“Oh my God! This is awesome! Thank you so much! Let me buzzed you in, I’m in the 2A.” He rushed to answer.

Gert couldn’t reply, the guy had already hung up and she heard the buzz of the door opening. She went to open it and entered into the building entrance hall. It was pretty similar to Gert’s one, as the two buildings were next to each other and looked exactly the same.

Gert started to freak out a little. What if the guy was a sociopath? He just let a stranger enter in his building, even giving her his apartment’s number. Either the guy was a psychopath or a total dumbass.

She headed to the elevator, reassuring by the presence of Old Lace. If the boy was trying anything, Gert was practically sure the dog would defend her.

Once she was in front of Chase’s door, she took a deep breath, trying to calm the beating of her heart and knocked.

He immediately opened it to answered, like he was waiting behind the door and Gert jumped a little, surprised. Her heart was beating faster now, but it wasn’t only because of the surprise effect. The man in front of her was a top model. Or a fucking Greek god.

His face was even cuter in person, how was that even possible? But it was nothing compared to his body. Damn, the boy was definitely using his gym club’s card to be so hot. He was muscular, but not excessively like the body-builder, just hotly muscular. He was wearing a navy-blue t-shirt with some dark jeans, but he could be posing for a commercial right now.

Gert mouth went dry.

He was smiling wide and Gert knew she was screw the moment she met his eyes.

“Hey!” He greeted her with a sweet voice.

“Hum … Hi …” She stunned.

_Come on girl, regain yourself!_

“I’m Chase.” He introduced himself, handing his hand out for her to shake it.

“I know.” She replied without thinking. “I mean, I read it on your driver license. This is how I found where you live.” She added when she saw his surprised face. “Not that I’m some kinds of stalker or whatever …” She blurted, red all over the face.

_Please, just shut up._

God she was so embarrassing sometimes … The guy looked more amused than anything, biting his lips to hold back the smirk that wanted to show up. Goddamn those lips …

“Of course.” He replied. “You’re just my hero, bringing me back my wallet when I was desperate to never saw it again …” He joked.

Gert giggled like a little girl. Gosh she was so weak.

“And … Do you think I can know the name of my savior?” Chase asked with smile.

That’s when she noticed he was still holding his hand out for her to shake it.

“Oh! It’s Gert.” She replied, finally grabbing his hand to shake it.

“Pleasure to meet you, Gert.” He grinned.

She felt her heart skipped a beat, but managed somehow to answer him: “Nice to meet you too, Chase.”

They stayed like this for longer that they should have, holding hands and staring at each other. Gert took off her hand abruptly, already missing the softness and warm of his. She reached for her back pocket to grab the wallet and hand it back to its owner.

“Thanks.” He whispered.

When he caught the wallet, his fingers brushed against her and she felt electrify again at his contact.

“You’re welcome.” She replied on the same tone. “But, you know, the only one you should be thanking is Old Lace. She’s the one who found your wallet after all.” Gert added, gesturing to the dog next to her.

Chase’s face lighted up when he saw the animal and he squatted down to be on the same level as her. He rose one of his hand to pet Old Lace and Gert hold back a breath. It was a terrible idea! Old Lace was mostly aggressive to stranger and Gert was afraid her dog was about to tear Chase’s hand in piece. Probably because of what she had to experience when she was living in the street. Except for Gert, the dog was really hard to connect with. It took her some times before she agreed to let Molly or Karolina touching her, but now she was good with them.

“You shouldn’t!” She warned. “Old Lace doesn’t like …”

She didn’t have time to finish, the dog was leaning against Chase hand, barking happily under his touch.

“… Stranger …” Gert finished astonished.

OK. So, her dog was falling under Chase’s spell too. Great. Let’s just hope Old Lace instinct was right and this guy wasn’t some kinds of psychopath, because apparently Gert couldn’t count on her dog to defend her.

“Thank you Old Lace for my wallet …” He rubbed the dog behind the ear and it was all it takes for her to roll happily on the floor. “Ow … Look at you! You’re so adorable …”

Chase was cajoling and baby talking to her dog and Gert’s heart was melting faster than chocolate under sun.

“Looks like she likes you …” Stated Gert, still surprised.

“Jealous?” Asked Chase with a smirk.

“Well, it’s my dog, remember?” Replied Gert, ignoring purposely the flirting ton Chase was using.

She was a little bit lost, why would a guy like him want to flirt with a girl like her? Maybe she was making up things in her mind again. Yeah, he was just being polite and Gert was playing some romantic shit scenarios in her head that weren’t real.

After more cuddling between Chase and Old Lace, he finally got up to face Gert again.

“Thank you Gert.” He said again. “For bringing me my wallet back. Not everybody would have done it. Or leave what was inside intact either.”

“Well, I like to think that not the entire world is already screwed up, so …” She shrugged.

Chase chuckled and looked at her with such fondness, she could feel her cheek turning red again.

“Hum …” She coughed. “Well, now that you get your wallet back, I should probably go …” She started, trying to run away from this hot guy and the way he was turning her brain into jelly.

“Can I buy you a coffee?” He rushed to say. “To thank you for what you did.”

“Oh … You don’t have to do that …” She answered, still careful about him.

Why would he want to buy her a coffee? He was probably just polite. Hot, and kind, and polite. Gert was praying that he was dumb otherwise there was no way she wasn’t falling irrevocably for him.

“Please, you literally saved my life, it’s the least I can do.” He replied with a hopeful face.

“I didn’t save your life.” Gert scoffed.

“Hey, thanks to you I won’t have to go through the trouble of having to redo all my papers. And see how administration paper is a real nightmare for me, it’s lifesaving.” He joked.

“Right.” Gert chuckled. “But you and I both know you’re more relieve about having your gym club card back.”

“Guilty.” He laughed. “What can I say, I spend so much time there, I’m completely lost right now …”

“I get it. What would you do with all your protein powder if you can’t go to the gym anymore?” She bit her lips.

“You see right through me …” He grinned, amused.

They stared at each other, smiling. OK, so now cute face was hot, kind, polite and funny with a good sense of humor. Maybe Gert was dreaming all of this? She hit her head really hard and now she was in a coma.

“So … About the coffee?” Chase whispered after a few seconds of a nice silence. “Or maybe tea?” He added when he saw her hesitating. “I can even offer a protein shake, but I’m not sure it’ll be at your taste …”

“I wouldn’t want to deprive you from your fuel. You need it now that you got your gym card back.” She teased. “Coffee sounds good to me.” She said to answer his first request.

If all of this was a dream, she should at least enjoy it the most when it was still on, right?

Plus, it was really hard to resist to this cute puppy face. And they only knew each other for minutes, but she was almost certain this guy wasn’t a psychopath now. After all, Old Lace liked him immediately.

Gert knew she made the right decision when she saw Chase’s face lighting up, bright smile on his lips.

“This afternoon? I’m supposed to go to work right know. Actually, I’m already late, but to my defense a few minutes ago I was still turning my apartment upside down to find my wallet, so …” He brushed a hand in his hair.

“I should probably go, then. Plus, I still had to work too, so …” Gert replied.

“Oh yeah. I hope I didn’t make you late too?” He asked worried.

“No it’s fine, I’m working from home. Don’t worry.” Gert smiled.

He returned the smile before saying: “I’ll finish around 4PM. We can meet in front of my building at 4:30PM? You can even bring Old Lace if you want to. After all she’s the one who should be reward. Even if I’m pretty sure coffee won’t do for her through.”

“Yeah, probably a bad idea, she’s already having too much energy without it.” Gert joked.

They both laughed, staring at the dog running in circles after her tail. After a few more minutes of enjoying each other presence, Gert finally manage to say goodbye and head home.

She spent her day thinking about him, coming back to reality every time Old Lace was barking at her, cutting off her fantasies. It was like the dog knew exactly what was going on inside her mistress head and was teasing her about it.

She was so not productive at work; she was going to spend the next day catching up on everything she couldn’t have done today. She even found herself daydreaming about hazel eyes and dimples while one customer was calling her to have more information about their ecologic solutions for his firm.

Gosh Gert was such a traitor to the feminist cause. Fifteen minutes of speaking with a hot guy and her brain was turning upside down. She even took time to prepare herself for their date. Which wasn’t actually a date, just a nice and polite way to thank her for being a good person. That didn’t stop her to lose half an hour to find what she was going to wear, though. She found herself ridiculous and decided to stick to her true style, putting her combats boots and oversize jacket on.

At 4PM she was already walking around in her apartment, stressed and impatient at the same time. Old Lace was looking at her, her head incline interrogatively in such a cute way. Even if Gert was pretty sure that the dog would roll her eyes at her stupidity if she could.

Half an hour later, she found Chase already waiting for her in front of his building. The man showed up early, good. Gert always hated people who arrive late. She was so anxious about going out that usually she was always at least fifteen minutes early herself. But this time she restrained herself and waited in her building entrance for the time to be good to not appear as a freak already to Chase.

When he saw her coming his way with Old Lace by her side, he gave them a dimple smile. Gert brought her dog with her because he said he didn’t mind if she came too, and it looked like he wasn’t lying.

“Hey.” He greeted her.

“Hey.” She replied with a dumb smile, she couldn’t help herself, it was like every time he was around she couldn’t do anything but smile.

“Hello Old Lace.” He said, kneeling to pet the dog.

She leaned into his touch, nuzzling his hand.

“I brought you a little something, to thank you for finding my wallet.” He told the dog while showing a bone. “If your mistress is OK for you to have it, of course.” He added looking at Gert.

“Sure.” She replied kneeling next to him to rub the animal’s head. “She deserved that, right Lacy?”

They agreed to go to the park, the same Old Lace found his wallet this morning, and took a coffee there in the little to-go stand there was in the middle of it.

“So, you’re living in the building right next to mine?” Asked Chase while they were walking.

“Yes. I moved in three years ago when I get back from Massachusetts after my studies.”

“You were in Massachusetts? Me too! I was in MIT.”

“Really?” Surprised Gert.

She wasn’t sure what was surprising her the most. The fact that they were studying in the same state in the other side of the country and now they were living next to each other. Or, the fact that he was in MIT. So, he was indeed hot and smart? Shit, that was so unfair.

“Yeah. I was in the engineering program. I came back in California to be closer to my mom.”

“What about your dad?”

“Hum … He passed away five years ago … Brain tumor …”

“Oh shit! I’m so sorry Chase!” She felt so bad for asking.

“It’s OK. You didn’t know.” He shrugged. “Plus, my dad was always a complicate subject …”

She brushed his arm to comfort him and he tried to give her a reassuring smile with sad eyes. She could sense he wasn’t feeling alright about this, so she decided to move to another topic.

“I was in Smith. In Massachusetts.” She explained. “I came back because I was missing my family too.”

“Really? So, you’re telling me, we both grew up in California, before heading in Massachusetts for studies and never crossed paths before?”

“Yeah, I know crazy. And even crazier when we know we live in the same neighborhood.”

“Right. To my defense I’m in here only since a few months. I was living at the other side of the city, but I got a job opportunity in the school next door. I’m teaching technologies to teenagers now.”

“Do you like it?”

“It’s better than spending 80 hours a week in a company that would use my creation to build weapons for the army …” When he saw Gert was looking at him worried, he explained: “I was creating a defense gauntlet, but my boss stole my project to turn it into a death weapon. I’m legally not supposed to speak about this, so let’s just say I quit and made some life changing after that.”

“The most important is that you love what you’re doing now.” Gert said with a smile. “Plus, if you had stayed in that firm, I would probably had gone manifesting with my anti-war group in front of your door, so …”

“Yeah? And what are you doing, when you’re not busy saving your neighbor life or saving the world?” Chase chuckled.

“I actually save the world more …” She laughed.

She explained to Chase what her job and center of interest were and he was listening to her attentively. Only cutting her to say an admiring remark or express how impressed he was.

At some point, they arrived in front of the coffee’s stand, Chase insisted to pay for both of them. And she couldn’t help herself but to give him a speech about patriarchal society and how they should share the bill.

“I wanted to invite you to thank you. I’m not gonna make you pay for your coffee, it’ll be idiot. Maybe not patriarchal, but definitely douche bag from me.”

“Fine …” Gert surrendered with a groan when he smirked in victory.

They continued to walk next to each other, letting Old Lace running free close to them and kept talking. Gert spoke about how embarrassing her parents were. How her little sister was the stronger person in the world, but still will always be a baby to her. And how energetic and bright her best friend was. Chase explained how closed to his mom he was, leaving to camp and stargaze with her at least once a month. He also talked to her about his best friends Nico and Alex.

Nico was always coming up with the worst ideas, Chase will follow her innocently and confident while Alex will stress out because he already knew he’ll have to get them out of trouble. They were all completely different, but somehow complementary. And they’ll always be here for each other, like a family.

When they passed close to the area where Old Lace found Chase’s wallet, Gert explained to him it what happened this morning.

“I must have lost it when I was doing my jogging.” Chase said. “I usually don’t bring it with me, but this morning I had to stop at the ATM before going to school ... The cafeteria lady already threatened to let me starve if I didn’t bring cash to pay my meal. Apparently, public school’s cafeteria doesn’t own credit card machine.”

“Wanna do a petition about it?” Gert joked.

“I could use your help with that, yeah.” Chase laughed.

They sat on the same bench Gert was this morning and stayed there talking until the sun was coming down and Old Lace was asleep next to them, tired of playing, that was a first. They walked back to their buildings, and Chase stated he wasn’t patriarchal walking her home because his home was on the same path than her. So, they were just walking to the same direction, next to one other. And Gert giggled to his silliness like a lovesick teenage girl.

They stopped in front of Chase’s building and kept talking some more, until Gert said it was time for her to go home and feed Old Lace. She said goodbye and was about to leave when he retained her.

“Can we see each other again?” He blurted.

She looked at him surprised. He wanted to see her again?

“I just … I liked it, you know. Talking with you and just, be with you. I would really like to do that again. If you want to, of course.” He explained blushing a little and passing a hand in his hair.

Gert bit her lips to hold back the smile that wanted to explode on it. She misjudged him so much when she first saw him. He wasn’t just a cute face, he was sweet and funny and smart, and Gert enjoyed this afternoon in his presence.

“What about tomorrow same hour? I’ll pay for the coffee this time …” She replied.

He looked at her with a giant grin on his face and she saw the happy puppy face he was making, eyes sparkling with joy.

“With pleasure.” He said.

And they did see each other the next day and she did pay for the coffee. And Chase paid for the next. And she paid for the next, next. Etcetera. And when they went to grab some food together, they split the bill. They had chosen some Chinese take-out, eating in the park, on what has become their usual bench. When Chase leaned to give Old Lace a piece of his chicken, the dog licked his cheek to thank him and Chase laughed, wiping his face with his napkin. That was it, that was the exact moment Gert knew she was in love with him.

And Gert thought “ _fuck it”_ , for once in her life she decided to not overthink about it and just did was she was craving to do for days now. She put her food aside, went closer to Chase, putting both her hands on his cheeks and making sure there wasn’t dog’s saliva on his face anymore. He put his on her waist, looking at her with dilated pupils. She stared at his eyes, questioning him silently and when he smiled in corner, brushing his nose against her, it was all the consent she needed to press her lips against him. She sensed him smile against her lips, before returning the kiss.

And right now, Gert was in the park, sitting in same bench she was two years ago when her dog decided to bring the best person into their life. The same bench where she kissed the love of her life for the first time.

She remembered how easy it was to let Chase entered into her life, like he was meant to be there with them, with her.

They moved together in Gert’s apartment after six months. It wasn’t really a big change for them, they were already spending all their time in there since they started dating.

He joined their morning walking, doing his jogging with Old Lace that was more than happy to finally have a friend to run with. While Gert was usually sitting in this bench, alternating between reading and watching them amused, wondering which one of them was the more childish. Chase was getting along with the dog so much, sometimes Gert was wondering if she should be jealous of not being the only one in Old Lace’s heart anymore, but every time she was watching them together, all her heart could do was melting more.

Chase was getting along with Gert’s friends too. And soon, they turned both of friends group into one big family, full of love. And even more when Karolina started to date Nico, bringing them on the most awkward but also funny double dates of all times.

Chase was also welcomed in her blood family quickly, spending father-son time with Dale to catch up on the one he couldn’t have anymore with his dad and to be honest never really had. But to be honest, Molly was more playing the protective parents figure for Gert. She scared the shit out of Chase the first time she saw him by showing up in her cop’s uniform, not telling him who she truly was and pretending he was under arrest for high school’s degrees’ fraud. By the time Chase understood she was messing with him, he already had his hands handcuffed, claiming his innocence in the Yorkes’s living-room. And Gert was laughing on the floor, unable to calm herself. It was the best way to start their first Thanksgiving together. Chase didn’t stay mad through, and soon Molly and he were like brother and sister.

And obviously Gert and Chase were getting along. Gert knew it was him. She wanted to wake up next to him for the rest of her life, Old Lace taking all the place in the bed, which was obligated Gert and Chase to cuddle together in a corner. Which was such a torture for the two of them, of course.

She wanted to hear him speaking how his students were driving him mad and that he was already too old to understand them. Seriously, who cares that Josh wasn’t with Abby anymore because he said “I love you” to her and she didn’t answer.

“I’m a technology teacher Gert, not a fucking psychologist! This is way too much for me. And Josh needs to stop crying on his homework, tears and circuits are not working together.” Chase complained one day when he came home, only calming down where Gert pressed kisses on his neck between giggles to cheer him up.

She wanted to see him cooking half naked in their kitchen until her eyes weren’t working anymore. He said it was to not dirt himself, but Gert knew he just enjoy being shirtless all the time. And she wasn’t complaining about it either.

She wanted to make love with him for the rest of her days, because God knew they were good at it. Like really good. The way Chase’s touch could make her shiver, how talented he was to bring pleasure to her. He learned all the sensitive places that were driving her crazy. And Gert spent so much time tracing the contour of his body with her hands or her mouth, she could sculpt a statue of it that would never brought justice to the piece of art the real one was.

She wanted to see the cute frowning face he was making every time she was speaking about some female activist books she just read with words that were going over his head. He would google them later through, just to do his opinion on what she was saying and being able to debate with her about it.

They were like two pieces of a puzzle that were fitting perfectly together. Even through, everything wasn’t perfect all the time, it couldn’t be. Gert was always pushing everyone away because of her anxiety, she had this need of loneliness sometimes that wasn’t matching Chase’s constant need of overprotecting everyone. Because when he was a little boy, no one was there to protect him from his dad. And now he had this necessity to be there for everyone, even when all Gert wanted was to be alone. That led them to a lot of fights, some nastier then the other. They had their up and down, almost breaking up multiple times.

And Gert knew, most of the time it was on her. Because she was too independent, too anti conformist, too society standards hater to build something “normal”. Which was probably why Chase didn’t talk to her about the ring hiding in his closet. Gert found it one day by accident when she wanted to steal one of his pair of socks because she didn’t have some anymore and was too lazy to do the laundry that day.

She didn’t know for how long Chase was having it, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t ready to propose to her because he knew he’ll face a rejection from her. And he was right, because it has been a week and Gert was freaking out. About him, about engagement, about everything. And the poor guy hasn’t even proposed yet. She was cold with him, pushing him away for no reason, at least to him because he couldn’t understand what was going on when Gert wasn’t speaking to him, keeping stuff to herself, as usual.

She thought about it again and again and again. And here she was, sitting on their bench, after having taken the most difficult decision of her entire life.

She asked Chase to meet her, and when he arrived, she felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest. And she was pretty sure he could sense her disarray too.

“Hey babe.” He said softly, sitting next to her. “You’re alright?” He asked carefully.

He was always careful around her lately because every time he was opening his mouth, she was a real bitch with him. And now he was afraid of talking to her. Great. It only comfort her that she had taken the right decision, things couldn’t continue this way anymore.

“Yeah …” She whispered. “Hum … There’s something I need to tell you …”

She could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She brought her hand next to her mouth, seeing the massacre she made of her nail before when she was biting hard on them. She put two fingers in her mouth and whistle.

Old Lace who was waiting for the signal a few meters away, trotted happily to meet her mom and dad. The dog was carrying something in her mouth. She went to Chase, dropping the object in his lap and brushing his legs with her head, like she knew what was going to happen and wanted to cheer him up.

“I found this last week, I think it belongs to you.” She said trying to keep her voice normal.

“What …” He started.

Then he recognized the square little black box that was in his closet a few hours ago. He gulped and turned to face Gert.

“Gert, I know what you think about marriage and …”

“And still you bought this.” She cut him.

He sighed.

“I knew I shouldn’t have done it. It’s just, when I saw this silver ring with the purple amethyst, I … I couldn’t help it, it reminded me of you so much and … I know that you don’t like marriage and what it represents, but I love you so much and it’s just an evidence to me. You’re the one I want to grow old with. Married or not, I don’t care. I shouldn’t have bought this ring; it was stupid …” He explained looking at her hesitantly.

He knew he was walking on eggs, and he was so afraid to lose her. If only did he know …

“Open the box.” Gert ordered with quaver in her voice.

“What …” He frowned.

“Just do it Chase.” She closed her eyes to calm herself.

Chase executed and she opened her eyes again when she heard him gasp. Chase was staring at the little note she left in the box. It was a small piece of paper with only one word wrote on it. Three letters. _“Yes”._

“Are you serious?” He asked.

She nodded.

“Are you sure about this?” His voice was breaking with tears.

“I’m certain of it. I already thought about this a lot. I want to wake up to your dumb wonderful face for the rest of my life.” She smiled with tears in her eyes.

He rushed to put his lips on hers hungrily, kissing her like the world was about to end. It was messy and full of tears, but it was tears of joy.

“I love you.” He whispered on her lips when he pulled away from her.

“I love you too.” She smiled, brushing his hair gently.

He wiped the tears away from her face with his thumbs, kissing her cheek lovingly.

“Can I?” He asked gesturing to the ring.

She nodded and he passed the ring on her finger, it was fitting perfectly. She kissed him again and when they split apart, it was to cuddle on the bench.

“I spent the last month wondering if I should actually ask you and how.” He confessed in her ear.

“Yeah? Well, maybe it was for the best, I’m not sure of how I would have react … It took me some times to think about it you know?” She replied honestly.

“I understand. Good point I didn’t follow Josh idea to hire my students to do a flash mob in the middle of the street and claim my love for you with a mic.” He joked.

“God, this kid is really the worst.” Gert laughed. “He needs to stop watching romantic teenage movie.”

“I know.” Chase chuckled against her neck. “He wants to be invited to the wedding through.”

“Fine, but we’re not having any of his ideas, like rose petals or any other romantic shit.” Gert conceded.

“Of course.” Chase kissed her temple.

Old Lace jumped on her knee, feeling a little left behind and they laughed.

“And of course Lacy, you’re going to be our flower girl. After all, this is all thanks to you …” Gert pet her head.

It was true. If the dog hadn’t found Chase’s wallet two years ago, none of this would never had happened. Gosh, Gert had the best dog ever.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I wrote this thing full of fluff because this idea just came to my mind and I wanted to write a little one-shot with a cute story and no drama. Just Chert fluff. I hope you enjoyed it, please feel free to leave kudos and/or comments to let me know :)  
> Take care,  
> Elodie.


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